


The Snack

by thatsoccercoach



Series: Which Door? [25]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Anaphylaxis, Mama Bear Claire, Nurse Claire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-10 02:28:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14728241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsoccercoach/pseuds/thatsoccercoach
Summary: Did Bree want blueberries for her snack or strawberries?





	The Snack

                                                                [](https://www.libelle.nl/food/afvallen-dieet-scandi-sense/)

Sometimes their girls puzzled Claire. Granted, they were both still quite young and both Claire and Jamie would have ample time with them to figure out exactly who they were. In some ways it was blatantly obvious who they were. At other times their own special brand of “normal” unraveled and became something new and unexpected.

On the day she was born it was plain to be seen that Faith was a quiet fighter. She was the underdog who came from behind when nobody was paying attention and overtook everyone else. She resembled Claire in many ways just as Bree had physical traits that were feminine versions of Jamie’s, but Faith’s little personality was still completely her own.

Brianna was filled with fire and zest. Always eager to keep up with her sister, always fascinated by observing (and intervening in) the way things worked, always attempting new things. With Bree everything was big and loud and _now_.

At the moment, she was trying some new things with her mama. Brianna and Faith had both been napping as they’d done on the same schedule for months now. For reasons unknown, though not very surprisingly, Bree was awake today. She was _very_ awake and slightly on the cranky side, but Claire was trying to embrace the fact that she was going to get some quality time with her younger daughter regardless of whether or not she desired it at the present.

“Bree, baby?” she queried. “Do you want some blueberries for snack?”

“Not a berries!” her little redhead pouted.

“Not berries? Hmm, we have the blueberries or,” she paused and Bree scowled at her. Maybe she had been serious about that. “Or some crackers or some strawberries.”

“Yep,” she replied.

“Which is it that you want? The crackers or the strawberries?” Caire raised an eyebrow in the direction of her tired daughter.

“Yep, mama.” she said once more. “Peeease?” she tried imploringly, still no closer to communicating which snack she actually wanted.

“Hmm,” Claire hummed, then set both a couple of crackers and some pieces of fresh strawberry on a plate for Brianna to try. Hopefully she wouldn’t _throw_ the item that she hadn’t actually wanted as she’d been known to do in the past.

“Tankyoo, mama!” she crowed happily, beginning the process of breaking and grinding crackers and mushing the fruit for no purpose other than to see what would happen.

As Brianna settled to her destructive task, Claire turned to the dishes that she’d been hoping to tackle while the girls napped. She smiled as she listened to her little one chattering to herself over her snack, clicking the cracker against the hard surface of her plate as she broke it again.

“Mama,” squeaked a little voice. Claire turned immediately. Bree had _never_ had a little voice. Not since the moment she was born with a tremendous shriek. “Mama, pease?” Brianna wheezed, her eyes wide and beseeching.

Hands dripping from the water in the sink and without thoughts of anything other than the well-being of her daughter, Claire sprung into action.

She wasn’t choking on anything at all. It wasn’t that she had food or any other object in her throat. She was struggling to breathe, panting, and wheezing and Claire realized in a moment of clarity that while Faith had consumed countless strawberries, Brianna had never eaten them and she was very clearly allergic.

She swept her daughter up at the same time she scooped up her cell phone into her free hand, calling in her emergency. Several things seemed to happen then, right away and simultaneously not soon enough. While the paramedics came to transport them, she ran, Brianna still in her arms, to see if Mrs. Fitz their neighbor would stay with Faith who was still sleeping.

Then they were there, taking her baby from her arms.

* * *

After being treated, Bree had clung to Claire for hours before letting go. She now was happily perched on a big bed playing with the crisp white sheets and her sister. Joe Abernathy, bless him, had arranged to the littlest Fraser to be observed in a private room instead of in the emergency room where she’d been admitted.

Mrs. Fitz, like the fairy godmother Claire kept saying she was, had swept in to watch Faith. When the little girl awoke, Mrs. Fitz had gotten her ready to go visit her sister. Jamie had come from work, collected Faith, and had thanked their neighbor profusely for being so flexible and for stepping in immediately when she was needed.

Now, Claire and Jamie stood off to the side of the room, emotionally exhausted. Claire Fraser, the nurse, had debriefed James Fraser, the firefighter only moments ago when he’d arrived with Faith. Now Claire and Jamie, the couple, the parents, stood with their arms locked about one another.

“She’ll have to have an EpiPen,” she mumbled into his solid chest, not looking up.

He shifted slightly, settling her closer to his heart. “Aye. We both ken how to deal wi’ that though.”

“And we’ll have to teach her to avoid strawberries.” She sighed. “I can’t imagine _successfully_ teaching her to not do something.”

“Hmm,” he chuckled gently. “We arena so good at that wi’ wee Bree, are we?”

“No,” she said flatly.

They watched their daughters for a few minutes, pondering how to proceed. Faith grabbed Brianna away from the edge of the bed as they giggled together, making sure her sister was safe.

“For the moment,” Jamie paused and pulled away from his wife just enough to look her in the face, “I think we ought to be thankful.”

“Well, yes,” Claire looked a bit surprised. She was incredibly thankful that Brianna was well!

“Thankful,” he continued seriously, “That our lasses have a mam who is a nurse in emergencies but who is their mama when they need her love.”

She pursed her lips in embarrassment and looked away until he tilted her chin back toward him once more.

“Thankful that our Bree has Faith. Her sister is always watching out for her and I dinna think, wi’ Faith’s gentle spirit, that she’ll ever begrudge the keepin’ of her sister.”

That part, she could agree to without feeling self-conscious at all.

“We have our family, Sassenach, and that is enough.”

“It is more than enough,” she concurred. He was right. The Frasers had each other.


End file.
